Félix-Antoine-Philibert Dupanloup

Félix-Antoine-Philibert Dupanloup, (born Jan. 3, 1802, Saint-Félix, Fr.—died Oct. 11, 1878, Lacombe), Roman Catholic bishop of Orléans who was a clerical spokesman for the liberal wing of French Catholicism during the mid-19th century.

Ordained priest in 1825, Dupanloup began his series of successful catechetical classes at the Parisian Church of the Madeleine. As director of the Parisian junior seminary of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet (1837–45), he attracted many lay students. He was prominent in the struggle for educational freedom under the July Monarchy and was an architect of the Falloux Law (1850), which gave legal status to independent secondary schools. While bishop of Orléans (consecrated 1849), and as a member of the French Academy (elected 1854), he helped reorganize the liberal Catholic journal Le Correspondant.

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